Woody Guthrie would have been 100 years old this year and celebrations and tribute concerts have been held not only in the United States but all through Europe. You can get the various details here.

But the New York Times ran the most left-wing, guilt-tripping contribution on his legacy in its Weekend section last Sunday. The piece, written by Lawrence Downes, begins by noting that to attend the gala final concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., one has to buy tickets that range from $80-175. For a singer who in a good year may have earned $70 in one month — when he was employed by CBS to do a radio program — such a price for people to listen to his songs would have infuriated him.

The publicity for the concert reads: “Through his unique music, words and style, Guthrie was able to bring attention and understanding to the critical issues of his day.” To which I would say, sometimes. He came to attention by what is most likely his most outstanding work,Dust Bowl Ballads, in which Guthrie chronicled the impact of the dust storms throughout the Southwest that drove thousands of poor farmers from Oklahoma and elsewhere to flee however they could to California and the Salinas Valley, where they could eke out a living picking crops.

No one who listens to these can doubt his talent, his humor, and his concern for those he knew well. “Talking’ Dust Bowl Blues” is filled with humor and irreverence, and although imitated by scores who wrote their own talking blues for years thereafter, nothing comes close to Woody’s originals.

But Mr. Downes’ concern is that there has been a “sentimental softening and warping of Woody’s reputation,” because the truth was that the “saintly folk hero” was really an “angry vigilante — a fascist-hating, Communist-sympathizing rabble-rouser.” He complains that his most well-known song, “This Land is Your Land,” has been “truncated and misinterpreted” because the “pan is off the flame.”

Mr. Downes is obviously referring to the last two verses, which Guthrie himself never sang — and which now both Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen regularly include — about how he saw a sign that said “Private property, no trespassing, but on the other side it said nothing, that side was made for you and me.”

Just don’t try to trespass on any of Bruce’s million-dollar properties — unless you want the police arriving and throwing you in the hoosegow, which Woody himself knew quite a lot about.

There are scores of artists assigned to writing music to the lyrics in Guthrie’s archives that he never made up tunes for. You can listen to some of them in the two CD’s out a few years ago with Billy Bragg and others.

Several months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, I bought used Billy Bragg cassette. Among other songs, Billy Bragg sang “The Internationale-”the first time I had ever heard “The Internationale” sung. Ironic that several months after I first heard “The Internationale,” the Berlin Wall fell, confining “The Internationale” to the dustbin of history.

I also like Woody’s songs without adhering to the ideology behind the songs, perhaps because some of my relatives were Dust Bowl refugees. What he wrote in the 1930s still has some validity:

California’s a Garden of Eden
It’s a paradise to live in or see
But believe it or not
You won’t find it so hot
If you ain’t got the Do Re Mi.

Except that thanks to years of leftists in power, California is not the paradise it used to be. But you still need the Do Re Mi.

I gave the Billy Bragg settings of Woody Guthrie’s lyrics half-a-listen and then gave up. They are awful. The beauty of the classic Guthrie songs is that they are based on, or in the best Socialist spirit, appropriate folk melodies.
Years ago I met Peggy Seeger (Pete’s half sister) and asked why she didn’t sing Woody Guthrie songs. She said she felt they lost so much without his beautiful Texas accent.I wish Mr Bragg had been so fore-bearing.

Arlo has made it clear he hasn’t moved too far from the fold. Obviously, in response to the Downes article in The NY Times, he just posted the following on his website:
Here Comes The Kid
by adg on Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:06 am

“The statement that I have previously refused to join any union is completely false. As a matter of fact I belong to more than one local of the musician’s union – 802 in New York, and local 1000, the traveling musician’s union. Although I have disagreements with particular unions at times, I remain a union guy from head to toe. Although I am a registered Republican, it does not follow that I endorse or condone the ridiculous positions the Republican party has taken as of late. I have written extensively on many subjects as noted and will continue to speak out for a world where we can work together with anyone willing to put aside ideology for a practical reality – where government works for all the people equally. I am not one of those people who believes that government works best when it serves those with the most. I am out to fight that kind of absurd anti-Americanism with the songs I sing and the life I live.” – Arlo Guthrie

“I have written extensively on many subjects as noted and will continue to speak out for a world where we can work together with anyone willing to put aside ideology for a practical reality – where government works for all the people equally.”

Very sensible person, but entirely deluded to think that he can find a person on the left that can put aside ideology any more than they can live without breathing.

To JF Sanders: The only reason that I would not call W. Gurthrie a useful idiot is that he knew what he was doing. Idealists who joing front groups and think world peace will result from Americans burning their draft cards useful idiots. A guy selling the Daily Worker is a Communist.